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The Employee Free Choice Act—better known as "card check" legislation—is at the top of organized labor's wish list for the next Congress. But as card check moves from pipe dream to political possibility, wary tech firms are starting to rally in opposition.

Card check is meant to make it easier for workplaces to unionize by allowing employees to sign and submit cards signaling their support for collective bargaining, allowing the union to represent workers in negotiations once a majority of employees had signed up. Opponents of ECFA—whose ranks were joined by Al Sharpton this week—argue that replacing the traditional vote by secret ballot would open the door to harassment and intimidation of workers.

As The Hill reported earlier this week, tech firms, reluctant to jeopardize relations with Democratic legislators, have traditionally abstained from the fight over ECFA, allowing umbrella groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to take point in the political battle over card check. Now, however, some tech groups are poised to take a more active role.

Gerry Connolly, an incoming freshman in the House of Representatives, told The Hill that he was "surprised by the vehemence" of ECFA opponents at a meeting with the Northern Virginia Technology Council, who he said "spoke in almost apocalyptic terms and they made it clear they didn’t support it."

The 800-pound-gorilla of tech trade associations, the Consumer Electronics Association, is also stepping up to the plate. In the past quarter, says CEA spokesperson Laura Hubbard, the group joined the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a lobbying group formed to fight card check. Hubbard says CEA members fear that in a weak and volatile economy, dealing with union bureaucracy would hamper tech firms' ability to "quickly redeploy their workforces to respond to shifting market conditions."

While unions remain rare in much of the technology sector—according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 5 percent of workers in "computer or mathematical occupations" are union members—the telecom industry is a marked exception: 19.7 percent of private sector telecom workers are members of a union, far above the private-sector average of 7.5 percent. Their umbrella union, Communications Workers of America, has been among the most vocal proponents of EFCA.

With Republicans almost certain to filibuster EFCA should it come to the floor, Democrats will likely need 60 votes in the Senate to push the legislation through. That means that firms with pull in Silicon Valley could well tip the balance if they decide to throw their weight against the bill.